Obama Q&A on C-span

U.S. Economy: Growth Jumps 5.7%, Fastest Pace in Six Years

Jan. 29 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. economy expanded in the fourth quarter at the fastest pace in six years as factories cranked up assembly lines, indicating the recovery may be strong enough to be weaned from government support.
The dollar rallied as the data signaled the momentum generated by the world’s largest economy last quarter will carry into the new year. Rising investment in equipment and software is boosting sales at companies including Intel Corp. and may help bring the jobless rate down from close to a 26-year high as employers add staff to meet demand.
“We are getting on to something that is pretty sustainable,” said Bruce Kasman, chief economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in New York, who correctly forecast the gain in GDP. “Both consumers and businesses are beginning to increase spending. To get validation, we need to see a return in hiring, which we think we are going to get over the next few months.”
Consumer spending, which comprises about 70 percent of the economy, rose at a 2 percent pace following a 2.8 percent increase in the previous three months. Economists projected a 1.8 percent gain, according to the survey median. Efforts to rebuild depleted inventories contributed 3.4 percentage points to GDP, the most in two decades.

Dollar Gains

The dollar strengthened 0.7 percent to $1.3867 per euro. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 0.2 percent to 1,082.33 at 12:10 p.m. in New York after gaining as much as 1.1 percent.
For all of 2009, the economy shrank 2.4 percent, the worst single-year performance since 1946. Household purchases dropped 0.6 percent last year, the biggest decrease since 1974.
Intel, the world’s largest chipmaker, posted its biggest quarterly revenue in more than a year last quarter, a sign the computer industry has emerged from last year’s global recession.
“My expectation for 2010 is that we’re going to see robust unit growth,” Chief Financial Officer Stacy Smith said in an interview this month. “The consumer segments of the market will stay pretty strong, and I do believe we’re going to see a resurgence in PC client sales.”
Purchases of equipment and software increased at a 13 percent pace in the fourth quarter, the most since 2006, today’s Commerce Department report showed. The gain helped offset a 15 percent drop in commercial construction, leaving total business investment up 2.9 percent over the past three months.

‘Positive News’

White House economic adviser Christina Romer said today’s GDP report is “the most positive news to date” on the economy.
Romer, chairman of President Barack Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers, said that while economic growth is a “necessary first step for job growth” the government’s “focus must remain on getting Americans back to work.”
Obama this week said job creation will be the “number one focus in 2010.” Speaking during his first State of the Union address, Obama called on Congress to deliver a new jobs bill to his desk.
Payrolls fell by 85,000 last month after a 4,000 gain in November that was the first increase in almost two years. The U.S. has lost 7.2 million jobs since the start of the recession in December 2007, the most of any slowdown in the post-World War II era. The jobless rate held at 10 percent in December.

Federal Reserve

The Federal Reserve this week repeated a pledge to keep interest rates low for “an extended period” to bring down unemployment while also raising its assessment of the economy and repeating a decision to end purchases of $1.25 trillion of mortgage debt by March 31. Policy makers said business investment “appears to be picking up.”
Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke was confirmed for a second four-year term yesterday by the Senate with record opposition as some lawmakers criticized the central bank for doing more to help Wall Street than average Americans.
A Labor Department report today showed wages and benefits rose 0.5 percent in the fourth quarter, capping their smallest annual increase on record.
Gains in production last quarter stemmed the slide in inventories. Stockpiles dropped at a $33.5 billion annual pace following a $139.2 billion decline the previous three months. Inventories declined at a record $160.2 billion pace in the second quarter.

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President lays out plans to boost middle class

WASHINGTON - Promising repeatedly to “keep fighting’’ for average Americans, President Obama rolled out proposals yesterday to help struggling middle-class families care for their children, save for retirement, and pay off college debts.

“Unfortunately, the middle class has been under assault for a long time,’’ Obama told a gathering of his Task Force on Middle Class Families. “Too many Americans have known their own painful recessions long before any economist declared that there was a recession.’’

The proposals are part of broader themes that the White House said Obama would tie together in his State of the Union speech tomorrow night, including the importance of job creation, the need to reduce the deficit and, as ever, the urgency of changing the way Washington works.

Obama’s focus on the middle class, however, will be critical as he tries to regain momentum after a series of political setbacks, particuarly the election of Republican Scott Brown as US senator in Massachusetts. His new proposals include nearly doubling the child and dependent-care tax credit for families making under $85,000 a year, and limiting a student’s federal loan payments to 10 percent of income above basic living allowance.

They would also require many employers to provide the option of direct-deposit access to a worker’s individual retirement account and would expand tax credits for retirement savings.

Also yesterday, the Associated Press reported that the president plans to call for a freeze on some domestic spending in his budget proposal for the next fiscal year. Details of which programs would be covered under the freeze were not released. The president plans to submit his budget Feb. 1.

In his remarks to the task force, which is chaired by Vice President Joe Biden, Obama touted successes so far in creating jobs but made it clear that the efforts have fallen far short of what is needed.

“These steps have saved or created about 2 million jobs so far,’’ he said, “but more than 7 million have been lost as a consequence of this recession.’’

Obama praised the work of the task force, and he promised (four times in less than five minutes) to “fight for the middle class.’’

“So we’re going to keep fighting to rebuild our economy so that hard work is once again rewarded, wages and incomes are once again rising, and the middle class is once again growing,’’ Obama said. “And above all, we’re going to keep fighting to renew the American Dream and keep it alive - not just in our time, but for all time.’’

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White House defends healthcare legislation despite Massachusetts loss

Reporting from Washington - The Obama administration tried today to steady itself and its top domestic priority after last week's stunning Massachusetts Senate upset, as a top White House official vowed to move ahead with comprehensive healthcare legislation because "the underlying elements of it are popular and important."

"The president will not walk away from the American people, will not hand them over to the tender mercies of health insurance companies who take advantage" of them, White House senior advisor David Axelrod said on ABC's "This Week."

His comments came as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) called on the White House to scrap the legislation and "start over."

Republicans and Democrats continued to spar over the message and effect of Republican Scott Brown's win last week in overwhelmingly Democratic Massachusetts. The loss has shaken Democrats, who fear voter anger over healthcare and the still-struggling economy in November.

Part of the immediate fallout has been increasing opposition to the renomination of Ben S. Bernanke as chairman of the Federal Reserve. But White House officials, along with Senate Democratic and Republican leaders, said today that they believed he would be confirmed. His current term expires Jan. 31.

Brown built his victory on giving Senate Republicans the one additional vote they needed to filibuster the Democrats' healthcare bill. But Axelrod said the message from voters was more complex than outright rejection of the plan.

He noted that Massachusetts had enacted its own major healthcare overhaul law in 2006, and 68% of voters in last week's special election support it, according to a poll by the Washington Post, the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and Harvard University's School of Public Health. Brown voted for that legislation in the state legislature.

"I think people want action on healthcare," Axelrod said, admitting some missteps in the yearlong effort to move legislation through Congress. "The foolish thing to do would be for anybody else who supported this to walk away from it, because what's happened is, this thing's been defined by . . . insurance industry propaganda, the propaganda of the opponents, and an admittedly messy process leading up to it."

Bin Laden in bomb plot

Osama Bin Laden, speaking in a newly released audio tape, says the top al Qaeda leadership ordered the attempted Christmas Day bombing of the Detroit-bound airliner and vowed to continue attacks against America and its allies.

The claim of responsibility appears to trump an earlier statement by the Yemen-based branch of the terror group and suggests a high level of coordination and communication between the top leadership thought to be hiding along the Afghanistan and Pakistan border and the group based in and operating from the impoverished Arab country.

Intelligence officials and al Qaeda experts have debated how much control Mr. bin Laden has over the operations conducted by regional branches of the terror group due to what is presumed to be his remote and rugged existence while evading capture by U.S. forces since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks against America.

The Yemeni branch, known as Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, has raised its profile recently by broadening its attacks beyond Yemen. U.S. officials say that Nigerian student Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who has been indicted for the attempted airline bombing, told interrogators that he received his explosives in Yemen. In August, the Yemeni group claimed it deployed a suicide bomber in a failed assassination attempt against the Saudi deputy interior minister, a nephew of King Abdullah al Saud

In the brief audiotape aired Sunday by Arabic-language broadcaster Al Jazeera, Mr. bin Laden suggested that the Yemeni branch was following his orders to pursue attacks against the U.S. and its allies.

"The message sent to you with the attempt by the hero Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab is a confirmation of our previous message conveyed by the heroes of Sept. 11," Mr. bin Laden said on the tape. "If it was possible to carry our messages to you by words we wouldn't have carried them to you by planes."

The authenticity of the tape, or when it was recorded, could not be independently confirmed. However, al Qaeda experts in the region say that the voice on the tape sounds similar to other tapes aired from Mr. bin Laden.

Senate defeat

Reporting from Washington - The Democratic Party's defeat in Massachusetts on Tuesday -- the loss of a single, crucial Senate seat -- will force President Obama and his congressional allies to downscale their legislative ambitions and rethink their political strategy.

The most immediate challenge facing Democrats after Republican Scott Brown's victory is how to salvage healthcare legislation now that they no longer have the 60 votes needed to break GOP filibusters.

But even as Massachusetts voters streamed to the polls to anoint Sen. Edward M. Kennedy's successor, Democratic leaders showed no signs of standing down.

"We're right on course," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) said after meeting with her leadership team. "We will have a healthcare reform bill, and it will be soon."

For Democrats facing tough reelection fights in swing districts this November, however, the spectacle of their party losing in a liberal bastion has been chilling.

Even before Tuesday, party leaders had been under pressure to pivot toward other issues high on the agenda of an angry and impatient electorate: job creation and fiscal responsibility.

"It is really time now," said Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.), "for Democrats to shift their attention to issues that will enjoy broad public support."

Most worrisome for the party is polling data that indicates Obama's healthcare bill has helped turn independent voters -- who fueled his presidential campaign to victory -- into antagonists.

"If the Democrats can't win in a state they carried by 26 points in 2008, then they have to ask themselves: Where in the world is it safe to be a Democrat running for federal office in 2010?" said Bill McInturff, a Republican pollster whose firm worked with the Brown campaign. "The answer is nowhere."

Another factor that could shift the Democrats' legislative course is recognition of the anti-establishment fervor Brown's victory represented.

"The strongest dynamic in politics today is . . . about outsiders versus insiders," Democratic pollster Geoff Garin said.

The pickup-driving Brown, Garin said, skillfully portrayed opponent Martha Coakley, the Massachusetts attorney general, as someone who would do little to change Washington.

Amid that anti-establishment sentiment, the final stages of the healthcare negotiations have been riddled with the kind of elements that stoke anger at Washington: special provisions to corral support from individual senators, behind-the-scenes negotiations by a handful of leaders and a deal cut to win over organized labor.

Brown's election is also likely to alter the debate over the jobs bill that the House passed last month and companion legislation taking shape in the Senate.

Not a single Republican supported the House bill, and Senate Democrats now face a strategic choice: draft a similar measure and dare Republicans to kill it, or make changes -- such as adding business tax breaks -- to make it more acceptable to GOP lawmakers.

But some Democrats worry that the Massachusetts election will scare lawmakers from taking what they consider necessary steps to curb unemployment, steps that involve more spending and government involvement in the economy.

"Interpreting the Massachusetts result as a call to do nothing in terms of the economy would be a big mistake," said Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Conn.).

Another Obama priority is an overhaul of financial regulations -- an issue that has become more partisan as the president has ramped up his anti-Wall Street rhetoric and proposed a new tax on large banks.

One business lobbyist predicted Brown's victory may make Republicans even less likely to cooperate in moving the bill along, because they will anticipate party gains in the midterm elections.

But even Democrats who are urging a shift of legislative focus to job creation and fiscal responsibility see political danger in abandoning healthcare legislation entirely.

Their advice to party leaders: Finish it up, pronto, and then do something about the budget deficit.

In a sign of their determination to turn that page, Democratic leaders and the White House on Tuesday reached a tentative deal to resolve long-standing differences on creating a commission to propose ways to reduce the deficit and strengthen congressional budget rules against deficit spending.

"Focus on the healthcare thing," said Florida Rep. Allen Boyd, a leading Blue Dog Democrat. "Get the healthcare thing right and get it out of here. And then focus on the budget stuff."

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Volunteer 'army' to answer the call on Martin Luther King Day

He was the American prince of peace, and yet on the day set aside to honor the memory of Martin Luther King Jr., the third-largest army in the world will rise up in his name. This great summoning is a miracle beyond the muster of any army in history.

On today's National Day of Service, more than a million volunteers will answer the call, carrying trowels to plant gardens, ladles to feed the hungry and linens to line the beds of the homeless. The only armies larger than this one-day wonder are the People's Liberation Army of China and the United States military, the latter an all-volunteer force that costs nearly $700 billion a year to maintain. MLK Day volunteers, by contrast, work for the sheer joy of it.

Last year, the National Day of Service fell on the eve of Barack Obama's inauguration, and the new president called upon his skills as a former community organizer to create a kind of "volunteer chic." The Corporation for National and Community Service estimated that more than 1 million volunteers joined forces that day, and the number of organizations working under the agency's umbrella jumped from 5,000 to about 15,000.

"There was this incredible Obama high," recalled Marianne Mueller, a Palo Alto computer scientist who on Sunday led a coalition of the willing in a frenzy of stall mucking and composting at Homesteaders Ranch in Santa Clara, which is trying to preserve a piece of Santa Clara Valley's agricultural past. "I mean, people got
confused and were calling it the Obama Day of Service."

But as the poetry of Obama's grass-roots campaign gave way to the mossy prose of governance, there was some concern going into today's event that the volunteer spirit might decline in lock step with the president's poll numbers. The pool of local organizations partnering with the Corporation for National and Community Service this year has fallen from 15,000 to 11,000, according to Stephen Goldsmith, the agency's chairman. And after attracting 106 volunteers in 2009, Mueller got only 15 this year.

Still, most local groups experienced a surge of volunteers again today, leaving only the bad weather to dampen enthusiasm for outdoor events in the Bay Area. Rain or shine, Sacred Heart Community Service expected 175 volunteers to plant 70 organic, raised-bed gardens in the yards of low-income families as part of its La Mesa Verde (The Green Table) program. Last year, Sacred Heart closed its doors to honor King's legacy, but this year, the nonprofit has embraced the national campaign's "day on, not a day off" ethos.

"We definitely want to do it on the day we honor Martin Luther King's birthday," said Todd Madigan, Sacred Heart's director of development and communications. "When Dr. King said, 'Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,' we really feel like there's an example of that in our own backyards. People in our community don't have enough to eat."

That's the same impulse driving 50 volunteers from Canopy, a nonprofit urban forestry organization in Palo Alto, to plant 25 fruit trees in East Palo Alto. "Creating a healthy food option has been a challenge in East Palo Alto," said Sharon Kelly, the organization's program director.

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Late Night Drama

Jay Leno doesn't appear to have any allies left among his late-night colleagues. On Thursday night, ABC's Jimmy Kimmel used an appearance on "The Jay Leno Show" to rip the host, who good-naturedly put up with the sharp-edged ribbing.

When Leno asked Kimmel what show he would still like to host, the ABC comedian responded: “Oh, this is a trick, right? Where you get me to host 'The Tonight Show,' and then take it back from me? Listen, Lucy, I’m not Charlie Brown. I don’t fall for that trick.”

A few minutes later, when Leno suggested he might make the jump to ABC, Kimmel stuck the knife in deeper: "Listen, Jay, Conan and I have children....You've got $800 million. For God's sake, leave our shows alone!"

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County development group sees $1 billion economic boast by extending Gold Line

Construction of the Gold Line Foothill Extension will create nearly 7,000 new jobs and pump nearly $1 billion into the region's economy, according to a new study of the project.

The study completed by the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. (LAEDC) projects that about 2,600 new construction jobs that will be needed in order to extend the rail line from its current end in Pasadena to the Azusa/Glendora border.

Economists for LAEDC anticipate the extension will create another 400 or so jobs directly, for a total of around 3,000 jobs. The rest of the employment will come from what economists call indirect jobs - jobs created from supplying the materials to build the line - and "induced jobs" that would be created when all those new workers begin spending their new wages.

"When new jobs are created, those workers go out and spend money they didn't have before," said Gregory Freeman, an LAEDC economist. "That creates more jobs."

The study estimates that the county could see about $930 million in total economic output from the project. That output would include spending by the construction firms hired for the project and by the workers doing the actual construction.

Gold Line officials previously studied the long-term economic impacts of the full Gold Line project. But this was the first study that looked at the immediate benefits from the first phase of the project to extend the line to Azusa/Glendora.

R.I.P Teddy Pendergrass

Born in 1950 in North Philadelphia, soul singer Teddy Pendergrass became an instant sex symbol in the 1970s and into the early-1980s, thanks to his sultry love ballads. Some of Pendergrass's greatest hits include "Love T.K.O." and "Turn Off the Lights." He died of colon cancer on Jan. 13 at the age of 59.

International Relief Operations Under Way in Haiti

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Haiti earthquake: Head of UN, and other key employees, missing

The devastating earthquake that struck near Port-au-Prince, Haiti on Tuesday has cost hundreds of Haitian lives, based on reports so far, and destroyed thousands of homes and much of the basic infrastructure of the capital city. But it may also have killed some of the most experienced aid workers in the impoverished country, which could slow assistance efforts in the days ahead.

Speaking late Wednesday morning, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said the organization's chief representative in Haiti, Hédi Annabi, and Mr. Annabi's deputy Luiz Carlos da Costa remain unaccounted for since the UN headquarters at the Christopher Hotel were destroyed yesterday. France's Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Annabi had been killed, but the UN said that has not been confirmed.

"The UN headquarters at the Christopher Hotel collapsed in the quake. Many people are still trapped inside," Mr. Ban said. "Minustah troops have been working through the night to reach those trapped under the rubble. So far, several badly injured casualties have been retrieved and transported to the Minustah logistics base, which thankfully remains intact." Minustah is the acronym for the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti.

Mr. Annabi, a Tunisian national, was meeting with a delegation of about Chinese officials in the Christopher Hotel at the time the earthquake struck. The Chinese officials were still missing in the early afternoon.

A massive aid effort for Haiti is currently gearing up, with Brazilian Air Force planes scheduled to land in Port-au-Prince with food and medical supplies later this afternoon. US President Barack Obama promised swift US action to deliver aid to the stricken capital.

"It is now clear that the earthquake has had a devastating impact on the capital, Port-au-Prince,'' Ban said. "The remaining areas of Haiti appear to be largely unaffected

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Pete carroll and the seahawks

New Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said Tuesday that he is a different person than the man who left the NFL after the 1999 season.

Carroll, hired Monday as the team's head coach after leaving USC, said what he learned running the Trojans football program has better armed him to be a head coach in the NFL.

"If there was a difference from when I was in the NFL before, it is the experience that I had in college football to see what it's like to run a program," Carroll said. "And to come here with the freedom that we're going to have here ... is exactly what I was looking for."

Carroll went 33-31 in four seasons coaching the Jets and Patriots in the 1990s. He said he was still "developing" as a head coach at that time. He then coached USC to two national titles and elevated it into one of the nation's premier college programs.

PHOTOS: Carroll's first two stops in the NFL

"I've always loved the NFL so much," Carroll said.

"Always I had a thought that maybe it would come together in a manner that would fit right, that would give me a chance to do things the way I like to do it. And it's come together."

Carroll signed a five-year deal to be the head coach in Seattle. He will hire a general manager, but Carroll will have significant input into player personnel.

At USC, Carroll noted that he was judged by "perfection" every year, and he said he wants to be judged by a similar standard in the NFL.

"People from where I come from want to say 'Gosh why would you do that when you will all the time in college football and here you going into the meat grinder of the NFL?' " Carroll said.

"I'm ready. I couldn't be more prepared for it. I couldn't be more excited about it."

Carroll reiterated that he did not leave USC because of pending sanctions that the NCAA may be considering against the school.

The coach did not reveal what assistants he will bring him with to Seattle. ESPN reported that he will hire offensive line coach Alex Gibbs and USC QB Matt Barkley said former Trojans offensive coordinator Jeremy Bates is going with Carroll

H1N1 Shots Widely Available, but Do People Want Them?

A few months ago lines worthy of a rock concert formed around flu clinics as people clamored for the limited number of H1N1 vaccines.

Now the government says there is ample supply, yet public health experts are finding that people are no longer interested in getting the vaccine.

President Obama even declared this week to be National Influenza Vaccination Week and spoke to "strongly encourage" the public to get vaccinated.

"This week presents a window of opportunity for us to prevent a possible third wave of H1N1 flu in the United States," Obama said in a statement Sunday. "I strongly encourage those who have not yet received the H1N1 flu vaccine to do so."

Richard Quartarone, a spokesman for the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, estimated "at least 60 million Americans have been vaccinated" and that 140 million more doses are at the ready for adults, who should get one dose, or children who need two doses.

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New Jersey Lawmakers Pass Medical Marijuana Bill

TRENTON — The New Jersey Legislature approved a measure on Monday that would make the state the 14th in the nation, but one of the few on the East Coast, to legalize the use of marijuana to help patients with chronic illnesses.
The measure — which would allow patients diagnosed with severe illnesses like cancer, AIDS, Lou Gehrig’s disease, muscular dystrophy and multiple sclerosis to have access to marijuana grown and distributed through state-monitored dispensaries — was passed by the General Assembly and State Senate on the final day of the legislative session.

Gov. Jon S. Corzine has said he would sign it into law before leaving office next Tuesday. Supporters said that within nine months, patients with a prescription for marijuana from their doctors should be able to obtain it at one of six locations.

“It’s nice to finally see a day when democracy helps heal people,” said Charles Kwiatkowski, 38, one of dozens of patients who rallied at the State House before the vote and broke into applause when the lawmakers approved the measure.

Mr. Kwiatkowski, of Hazlet, N.J., who has multiple sclerosis, said his doctors have recommended marijuana to treat neuralgia, which causes him to lose the feeling and the use of his right arm and shoulders. “The M.S. Society has shown that this drug will help slow the progression of my disease. Why would I want to use anything else?”

The bill’s approval, which comes after years of lobbying by patients’ rights groups and advocates of less restrictive drug laws, was nearly derailed at the 11th hour as some Democratic lawmakers wavered and Governor-elect Christopher J. Christie, a Republican, went to the State House and expressed reservations about it.

In the end, however, it passed by comfortable margins in both houses: 48-14 in the General Assembly and 25-13 in the State Senate.

Assemblyman Reed Gusciora, a Democrat from Princeton who sponsored the legislation, said New Jersey’s would be the most restrictive medical marijuana law in the nation because it would permit doctors to prescribe it for only a set list of serious, chronic illnesses. The law would also forbid patients from growing their own marijuana and from using it in public, and it would regulate the drug under the strict conditions used to track the distribution of medically prescribed opiates like Oxycontin and morphine. Patients would be limited to two ounces of marijuana per month.

“I truly believe this will become a model for other states because it balances the compassionate use of medical marijuana while limiting the number of ailments that a physician can prescribe it for,” Mr. Gusciora said.

Under the bill, the state would help set the cost of the marijuana. The measure does not require insurance companies to pay for it.

Some educators and law enforcement advocates worked doggedly against the proposal, saying the law would make marijuana more readily available and more likely to be abused, and that it would lead to increased drug use by teenagers.

Opponents often pointed to California’s experience as a cautionary tale, saying that medical marijuana is so loosely regulated there that its use has essentially been decriminalized. Under California law, residents can obtain legal marijuana for a list of maladies as common, and as vaguely defined, as anxiety or chronic pain.

White House Economic Adviser: Jobs Picture is 'Still Terrible'

A top White House economic adviser said Sunday "you'll get no argument from" her on the need to improve the miserable jobs picture.

Council of Economic Advisers chief Christina Romer said it's devastating that some workers have been unemployed for two years and that job losses were continuing nearly a year after passage of the so-called stimulus bill.

The jobless rate remained at 10 percent in December as 660,000 people said they had left the workforce. But Romer couched the news by saying the siphoning of jobs from the market has slowed.

"In the first quarter of 2009, when we first came in, we were losing on average 691,000 jobs per month. With these new numbers in the fourth quarter, we were losing 69,000 jobs," she said. "It's still terrible. We're still losing jobs, and we absolutely have to go from losing any jobs at all to adding them at a robust rate."

Romer wouldn't predict what the unemployment rate will be in the fall, when members of Congress face re-election, but said it is "still a very realistic estimate" that job growth could begin in the spring.

She added that she wants to work on convincing firms that are considering hiring to take the plunge.

Romer also appeared to back a House effort to pump an additional $75 billion in federal spending into the struggling economy and pointed to targeted programs like longer COBRA health insurance coverage and "cash for caulkers" -- energy saving retrofits -- as ways to expand growth.

"The sense that we need to do more is overwhelming," she said.

G.O.P. Chairman Pressures Reid on Obama Remarks

Michael Steele, the Republican Party chairman, called Sunday for Harry Reid to step down as U.S. Senate majority leader in the wake of revelations of Mr. Reid’s remarks in 2008 about Barack Obama’s skin color and dialect.

A new book about the 2008 campaign quotes Mr. Reid as predicting that Mr. Obama could become the country’s first black president because he was “light-skinned” and had “no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one.” On Saturday, the senator issued a public statement apologizing for the remark. He also expressed his regret for the comment in a phone call to Mr. Obama, who accepted his apology. But Mr. Steele, who is black, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that an apology was not enough and “there has to be a consequence” for “anachronistic language that harkens backs to the 1950’s and 1960’s.” Asked by the moderator, David Gregory, whether that consequence should be Mr. Reid’s resignation as majority leader, Mr. Steele said, “I believe it is.”

The statement suggested that Republicans would not let the controversy pass quietly, while Democrats, from Mr. Obama himself to the Rev. Al Sharpton, worked to put the matter to rest.

“There’s a big double standard here,” Mr. Steele said. “When Democrats get caught saying racist things, you know an apology is enough.” He recalled that Trent Lott had stepped down as Republic majority leader in 2002 after making a racially tinged remark. Had a similar statement been made by Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader, Democrats would be calling for his head, he said. Mr. Steele made many of the same statements on “Fox News Sunday.”

Appearing alongside him on “Meet the Press,” Gov. Tim Kaine of Virginia, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, said Mr. Reid’s comments were “unfortunate and insensitive” but were made in the context of advocating a run by Mr. Obama for president. Mr. Lott’s remarks had been made in what appeared to be praise for Strom Thurmond for his segregationist candidacy.

Mr. Reid’s remarks were contained in “Game Change,” a newly published account of the 2008 presidential race by political journalists John Heilemann and Mark Halperin. The book reported that Mr. Reid privately urged Mr. Obama, then a freshman senator, to seek the presidency in the fall of 2006 despite his limited experience and the historical obstacles to making such a run.

“I deeply regret using such a poor choice of words,” Mr. Reid said in a statement on Saturday. “I sincerely apologize for offending any and all Americans, especially African-Americans, for my improper comments.”

President Obama quickly expressed support for Mr. Reid.

Quitting Smoking Carries Diabetes Risk

-- Cigarette smoking is linked to an increased risk of diabetes, but quitting the habit, ironically, may increase diabetes risk in the short term, a new study says.

Researchers say people who quit smoking typically gain weight, which may explain the temporary period of increased risk for developing type 2 diabetes, which is closely linked to obesity.

The findings are reported in the Jan. 5 issue of Annals of Internal Medicine.

The authors stress that their findings should not deter people from quitting smoking, which is also a risk factor for heart disease, stroke, atherosclerosis, and cancer. They say that the health benefits of smoking cessation outweigh the short-term risk.

“The message is: Don’t even start to smoke,” Hsin-Chieh Yeh, PhD, an epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and lead author of the study, says in a news release. “If you smoke, give it up. That’s the right thing to do.”

She says smokers who quit “have to also watch their weight” because obesity is tied to diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and other health problems.

Researchers in 1987-1989 enrolled 10,892 middle-aged adults who did not have diabetes and followed them for nine years. The study found that overall, people who smoked had a 42% higher risk of developing diabetes during the follow-up period than nonsmokers. However, smokers who quit had a 70% higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes in the first six years after quitting than people who had never smoked.

2010 What does it mean for congress and the house?

WASHINGTON — An already difficult situation for Democrats in Congress is worsening as the 2010 political season opens.

To minimize expected losses in next fall's election, President Barack Obama's party is testing a line of attack that resurrects George W. Bush as a boogeyman and castigates Republicans as cozy with Wall Street.

Four House Democrats from swing districts have recently chosen not to seek re-election, bringing to 11 the number of retirements that could leave Democratic-held seats vulnerable to Republicans. More Democratic retirements are expected.

Over the holiday break, another Democrat, freshman Rep. Parker Griffith of Alabama, defected to the GOP. "I can no longer align myself with a party that continues to pursue legislation that is bad for our country, hurts our economy, and drives us further and further into debt," said Griffith, who voted against Democrats' three biggest initiatives in 2009: health care, financial regulation and reducing global warming.

In the Senate, at least four Democrats – including Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and five-term Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd – are in serious trouble. The party could also lose its grip on seats Obama held in Illinois and Vice President Joe Biden long occupied in Delaware.

Going into 2010, Democrats held a 257-178 majority in the House and an effective 60-40 majority in the Senate, including two independents who align themselves with Democrats.

But they face an incumbent-hostile electorate worried about a 10 percent unemployment rate, weary of wars and angry at politicians of all stripes. Many independents who backed Democrats in 2006 and 2008 have turned away. Republicans, meanwhile, are energized and united in opposing Obama's policies.

The one thing that heartens Democrats is that voters also don't think much of the GOP, which is bleeding backers, lacking a leader and facing a conservative revolt

Pat White getting cracked

Steelers won to bad oakland did not so no playoffs for former superbowl champs

PPIP= Banks now making profit on their screw up

The Public-Private Investment Program was introduced in March by Geithner as a means of helping struggling banks by reviving the market for unpackaged loans and mortgage securities that aren't backed by government-supported institutions, such as Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. Under the program, asset managers were supposed to raise money from investors and, with additional capital and loans from taxpayers, buy as much as $1 trillion in toxic assets from U.S. banks, freeing up money for lending.

It's "absolutely ridiculous" that banks, which were expected to reduce their holding of such volatile mortgage securities, bought them before the government program was running and may now profit, said Michael Schlachter, managing director of Wilshire Associates, the Santa Monica, California- based investment-consulting firm. "Some of them created this mess, and they are making a killing undoing it."

Burj Dubai Tower Set to Open

DUBAI—The planned opening Monday of the Burj Dubai, the world's tallest skyscraper, could mark a turning point in Dubai's fortunes and those of its ruler after a year that saw both come under intense scrutiny.

Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, the city-state's 60-year-old hereditary leader, hopes the building and its surrounding $20 billion development will help enhance his reputation among international investors and restore Dubai's allure as a business hub.

The building stands at just over 2,625 feet. Developer Emaar Properties won't disclose the tower's final height ahead of the opening, although most estimates put it at 2,684 feet, far taller than Taiwan's Taipei 101, which had been the world's tallest skyscraper at 1,670 feet.

"Crises come and go," Mohamed Alabbar, the company's chairman said at a media event ahead of the opening of Burj Dubai Monday evening. "We must have hope and optimism and we must move on. I hope that this is the beginning of the gradual move forward."

Leading analysts expect the project will boost Emaar's revenue by almost $1 billion in the first quarter as homes and offices in the skyscraper are delivered.